It works! It really does! Even people who aren’t alcoholics can take advantage of AA’s get-out-of-jail-free benefits:

Richard Warren McCall was so pissed off when he heard that a bunch of kids were messing around on his abandoned property, that he drove over there and chased them down with his pickup truck. Because of the winter weather, he couldn’t control his truck, and ended up running down a 9 year old girl, killing her.

He will serve no jail time.

Defense attorney Gary Germann argued that McCall didn’t know the youths at his house were so young. He said McCall intended to run them off, then couldn’t brake in time to avoid Elizabeth in the winter weather.

Deputy prosecutor Andrew Bennett said during sentencing arguments, “Mr. McCall had the right to protect his property, but he did not have the right to do what he did.”

McCall didn’t drive slowly or wait for police but went in a rage, Bennett said before asking for the maximum of a year in prison.

Elizabeth’s mother, Lisa Miller, said during her victim’s statement, “What is the difference between pointing a gun at a group of children to scare them or aiming a truck?”

Germann’s sentencing arguments included McCall’s participation in Alcoholics Anonymous and volunteering in hospitals since the incident. He noted that when Jim Miller came to ask for an apology, McCall gave it.

Jim Miller wasn’t happy that what was meant as a private moment and a chance for his own closure was mentioned in the context of helping McCall.

“I waited a year and nine months for an apology, and I had to ask for it,” he said.